Windows XP: What’s eating up my hard drive space?
- 1/9/09 3:15 PM
recovering hard disk space
by Bill Schonlau - 1/31/09 1:22 PM In reply to: Working on the "System Volume Information" Folder by brunodcreplying to brunodc post 1/10/09:
I tried brunodc's advice for recovering disk space by reducing the System Restore space reservation from what was evidently the default 12% to 5%, I suddenly had about 7-8GB more space and my system is running like new again (I had some serious resource depletion problems). But I stumbled onto an easier way, please tell me if this is risky:
1 - right-click on My Computer, select Properties.
2 - Select System Restore tab, in Disk Space Usage area move slider from 12% to 5%, click Apply.
I saw the liberated space immediately become available, did the system automatically delete the oldest restore files? I never use this feature but would like it to be there when I need it.
Thanks brunodc
- bills
Hard drive space eaten up
by headtech - 1/16/09 6:59 PM In reply to: Some very good ideas have already been posted. by PsychGenI read a number of the replies but not all of them. So maybe I'm repeating a fix.
First check the maximum size of the Recycle Bin and set it to a small size.
Second go to System Properties, find Performance, then Virtual Memory. Set your Paging File size to a small amount or turn it off. You should end up with more space.
Third buy yourself a new hard drive. You should be able to get a small one real cheap, but check the prices on a mid size one because the ones that sell more are sometimes cheaper.
Hope this helps.
Losing hard drive space
by arnyp - 1/10/09 7:26 AM In reply to: same problem by jan-hendrik v jI was having the same problem on my XP-PRO system. The more programs I removed, or system changes I made to regain drive space, the faster I ran out of disc space. I discovered that just about every change resulted in the system setting a "restore point", and any gains were only temporary. I finally checked the "system volume information" folder and found that there dozens of folders in the "restore{006A00-..} folder (where windows stores all of those "restore points") each between 45 - 90MB. The more stuff I had on the hard drive, the larger the RP folder. I moved most of the folders to one of my network drives and instantly gained nearly 2GB of space on my 10GB partition. Note that on some days there as many as 3-4 RP's set, coinciding apparently with the number and frequency of WIN-xp auto-updates or other plug-ins, sys maint actions, etc. It's not a cure, but it helps.
If your wincdows XP has gotten slow.................
by Glenda Schroeder Boswell - 12/21/08 3:30 AM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You may have too many application in your start up menu.
The Dell team fixed mine with me online, and I have that service with them where the US team can take over my computer and tune it up or repair it l=from FL, because I am not super tech savy, but it ceertainly fixed the problem.
I run Windows XP Pro and to get it on this computer had to design it a yr ago with a Dell rep and am very happy with my laptop.
Glenda
Running out of Free Drive Space
by waytron - 12/21/08 4:01 AM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
One of the key questions here is how big is your whole hard drive? And are you using the D: partition and if so, for what? For example, for a few years, Sony was partitioning many of their computers with a small C partition and a good size D partition and many users where not even aware of it or where not even using the D partition at all. Many ran out of space on C very quickly. If this is your problem you can use a program such as Acronis Disk Director to repartition your drives to take away some space from D and give you more space on C. This process can be done without losing any of your current data. Another option is to move the contents of My Documents to the D: Partition. You can do this by right clicking on MY DOCUMENTS > Select Properties > Click on MOVE to redirect it to the D partition. You could also redirect your swap file to the D partition as well other large files such as your Outlook PST file, if you use Outlook.
If both your C and D partitions are both almost full then your best option is to replace the hard drive with a new, larger drive. Chances are if you only have a 20g partition on C then I would guess that your computer is probably over 3 or 4 years old and could use a new drive anyway. Hard drives are like tires on a car, and should be replaced periodically anyway. Spinning at several thousand revolutions per minute, hard drives wear out over time.
If replacing the hard drive is not in the cards for you then here are some things you can do to free up space (after you have BACKED UP all of your data of course):
1. Security Software - First I would like to say that you are perfectly fine using Avast, Defender and Spybot. Unless you want to make things worse, I would NOT recommend that you switch to Norton or McAfee. Zone Alarm has been known to cause some problems, so you might want to consider Comodo firewall. But if you want to stick with Zone Alarm, you should at least uninstall and reinstall it to make sure it is behaving properly.
2. Check Disk For Errors – One of the first things you will want to do is check the hard drive for errors. Double Click on My Computer and Right Click on your C drive, Select PROPERTIES, click on the Tools Tab. In the Error Checking Section click on CHECK NOW, Place Check marks in both boxes and click on START. You will receive and error message, so click on YES and reboot your computer to start the process. NOTE: this can take a long time to run depending on the size of your drive and its condition (>1 hour).
3. File Cleaner – Download CCleaner from www.download.com and run that to clean up all your temporary files. Don’t forget to empty your recycle bin.
4. Uninstall Unused Programs – Use Add/Remove Programs to uninstall any junk, trial or unused programs that you may have on your computer. Many computers come with free trial and other junk programs that you probably have never used. Uninstall any programs that you do not use. If you are not absolutely sure of something, you are best off leaving them installed.
5. Reduce System Restore Size – Windows System Restore can take up as much as 12% of your hard drive space. You can adjust this size by Right Clicking on MY COMPUTER and Selecting PROPERTIES and then click on the SYSTEM RESTORE tab. Click on SETTINGS and move the slider to about 5%. Keep in mind that this will reduce the number of System Restore points you will have available to you.
6. Search for Large Files – Sometimes you can spot unusually large, forgotten or even some duplicate files that you do not need by performing a general search for files over a specific size. Click on START and Select SEARCH. Select All FILES AND FOLDERS. Leave the search box empty and Select change the Search In box to your C drive. Next select the What SIZE is it and check off SPECIFY SIZE and then select AT LEAST and enter something like 20,000 (20meg). Now click on MORE OPTIONS and Place a check mark in every box except Case Sensitive. Now Click on SEARCH. This will now start displaying all the files on your C drive that are over 20mb. Look through the list and see if you can find any obvious files to delete. Sometimes you will find a few large video files that you totally forgot you had. Again it is best to leave any files that you are not absolutely sure about. You can change the minimum file size to anything you want and search again but the smaller the number the more files you will get back. Don’t forget to keep emptying the recycle bin after deleting files.
7. Reinstall some Programs onto the D: partition – If needed, you can uninstall some of the programs that you do use and reinstall them onto your D: partition (assuming you have extra space on D:). Programs install themselves on the C drive by default, but during the install process you can usually change the default location and redirect the installation to your D partition instead.
When a drive partition has been running low on free space for a while it usually becomes very fragmented, so you really want to run the disk defragmenter. If you still do not have enough free space to run defrag, you might want to try another brand of disk defragmenter such as Smart Defrag from Iobit.com. Or you could temporarily shut down your swap file and system restore to give you enough free space and then turn them back on after the defrag.
Good Luck and Happy Holidays!
Dana
Wayland Computer
CLEANUP! AND CCLEANER and "Smart Defrag"
by bobfox321 - 1/9/09 8:15 PM In reply to: Running out of Free Drive Space by waytronThese 3 programs allow me, on a weekly basis, to remove Gigabytes of wasted space and keep my disk automatically defragged.
Funny how CCLEANER originally was C-r-a-p Cleaner and CLEANUP! has a loud flushing toilet for a sound byte.
The other newly found utility that is just plain awesome is Smart Defrag. It works in the background to defrag and optimize the hard disks.
Comodo changed
by dfichtner - 1/9/09 8:44 PM In reply to: Running out of Free Drive Space by waytronComodo now seems to force you to install an entire security suite for free, rather than just its free Firewall. The antivirus has done very poorly in tests, and is not yet certified. Just a note.
space on hard drive reply
by art07 - 1/10/09 11:17 AM In reply to: Running out of Free Drive Space by waytronJust wanted to say thanks for the answers provided to fellow CNET members question - has helped me a lot
much appreciated Glenda
Windows Installer Files .msi
by c1pjf - 1/10/09 1:40 PM In reply to: Running out of Free Drive Space by waytronCheck to see how much space is taken up by Windows Installer files (.msi).
20 Gb on a drive is not out of the ordinary!
If you do a search you will find a release by Microsoft on their Support Website of a file to deal with this problem.
The file is called msicuu2.exe
Running out of Free Drive Space
by jumanji01 - 1/10/09 8:24 PM In reply to: Running out of Free Drive Space by waytronif you are using an older anti-virus every time you up date it it will take up your memery as well as windows XP every time you up date it it will take up your memery as well every time you go on your computer and serfe the net windows XP has a programe that wrights on your hardrive what ever it is I never found it out. I had a programe calld deepfreeze on my computer and after a short time I would get errors saying that my delayed windows righter could not right I had to reboot my system and start over again after a short time of doing this I had to format my hard drive to get rid of the deepfreeze,every so often you should back up your inportant files to a cd-rw or data stick that'd big enough for the data and format your hard drive it may be a pain in the ass to re-install the programes but I do it from time to time when My drive space gets down. one of my segestions is that when you download certin things that you are going to keep using save them in a My Downloads file so that if you are going to use them again save them on disk so that you won't have to search the internet for them again for when you might have to format your computer's hard drive you'll have them on a disk for next time you install them again.
Mystery Folder-File which HOGs C-Drive Space!
by Good-PC.Guy! - 1/17/09 3:12 AM In reply to: Running out of Free Drive Space by jumanji01GOODDAY!
I BELIEVE THAT I MAY HAVE FOUND THE PLACE WHERE YOU LOOSE THE FREE-SPACE WHICH YOU REFER TO.....
I ALSO HAD NOTICED THAT THE FREE-SPACE ON MY PCs KEPT GETTING SMALLER & SMALLER, EVEN ON PCs WHICH I SELDOM USED FOR WEB-SURFING OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT WAS EXPECTED TO USE-UP FREE-SPACE!! I'D ALSO NOTICE THAT EVERY-SO-OFTEN, I'D MYSTERIOUSLY GET BACK A LOT OF THE MISSING SPACE!!!
SO I STARTED KEEPING CLOSE (HOURLY) WATCH & NOTES OF MY FREE-SPACE ON ALL MY PCs... AND WHENEVER I NOTICED A DROP OR GAIN OF MORE THAN 2MB OF FREE-SPACE, I WOULD THEN reSET THE PC'S CLOCK FORWARD 23-HOURS AND THEN RUN A SEARCH (ON THE PC) FOR ANY NEW OR MODIFIED 'Files or Folders' DURRING THE PAST 24-HOURS. DOING THAT WOULD OFTEN FIND A MYSTERY-FILE & IT'S FOLDER!
SO I SUGGEST THAT EVERYONE DO THE SAME, TO FIND WHERE YOUR FREE-SPACE IS GETTING TAKEN-UP!
I'VE FOUND THAT THE MAIN REASON FOR THE CHANGING FREE-SPACE WAS DUE TO A MYSTERY-FOLDER CALLED 'DrWatson', WHICH IS FOUND ON THE C-DRIVE OF MANY OF MY WINDOWS PCs.
SO I ALSO SUGGEST THAT EVERYONE CHECK THEIR PC FOR THAT FOLDER...
CLICK ON: 'My Computer', THEN NEXT: 'C', NEXT: 'Documents and Settings', NEXT: 'All Users', NEXT: 'Documents'... IN THIS LAST FOLDER, YOU MAY FIND THE MYSTERY-FOLDER CALLED 'DrWatson'... IN THAT FOLDER THERE IS ALWAYS A FILE CALLED 'user.dmp'... THAT FILE GROWS ALMOST CONSTANTLY AND SEEMS TO BE FILLED WITH ALMOST COMPLETE SPACE-WASTING DATA!
THEN AFTER IT REACHES 6 TO OVER 100MB, IT WILL SHRINK WAY BACK DOWN, FOR UNKNOWN REASONs.
IF YOU DO HAVE THAT FOLDER BUT DON'T SEE THE FILE, YOU SHOULD MAKE SURE THAT YOUR PC DISPLAYS ALL 'HIDDEN' FILES & FOLDERS, AS THE FILE WAS KEPT HIDDEN ON MOST OF MY PCs!
I SUSPECTED THE LARGE & CHANGING FILE TO BE SOME SORT OF SPY-WARE, SO I MOVED IT TO AN EXTERNAL HARD-DRIVE, (IN CASE IT WAS NEEDED).
I HAVE SINCE NEVER FOUND ANY CONSEQUENCE BY DELETING THAT OFTEN CHANGING FILE!
I'D REALLY LIKE TO KNOW WHERE THAT MYSTERY FOLDER & IT'S FILES COME FROM! SO IF THERE'S ANYONE OUT THERE WHO KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT THAT FILE IN THE 'DrWatson' FOLDER, THEN PLEASE TELL WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT IT!!!
Dr. Watson mystery
by vernojo - 1/17/09 2:01 PM In reply to: Mystery Folder-File which HOGs C-Drive Space! by Good-PC.Guy!Here is my advice. - chiding you a little.
Learn to use Google!!!! You will find the following and more.
This article describes the Dr. Watson for Windows program error debugger tool included in Windows XP.
support.microsoft.com/kb/308538
This article describes how to disable and re-enable the Dr. Watson program for Windows.
support.microsoft.com/kb/188296
The short answer is a program running regularly on your system is crashing regularly. Each crash causes Dr. Watson to write a large "crash dump" file to disk for debug and analysis. The file extension i.e. type is ".dmp".
Fix or stop running the crashing program and no more .dmp files. Fix can mean install new or patched version or correct installation option or configuration errors or corrupted data file or a slew of other, less likely errors, e.g. IRQ conflict.
DrWatson 'FOLDER', NOT the MYSTERY!?
by Good-PC.Guy! - 1/17/09 7:54 PM In reply to: Dr. Watson mystery by vernojoWELL, THAT'S JUST THE 'OFFICIAL' STUFF CONCERNING IT. RIGHT?_RIGHT!
What Dr. Watson is....
by twominks - 1/17/09 4:08 PM In reply to: Mystery Folder-File which HOGs C-Drive Space! by Good-PC.Guy!Dr. Watson for Windows is a program error debugger that gathers information about your computer when an error (or user-mode fault) occurs with a program. Technical support groups can use the information that Dr. Watson obtains and logs to diagnose a program error. When an error is detected, Dr. Watson creates a text file (Drwtsn32.log) that can be delivered to support personnel by the method they prefer. You also have the option of creating a crash dump file, which is a binary file that a programmer can load into a debugger.
You can learn more here......http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308538
So it isnt spyware..... but it certainly can take up much needed room on your hard drive
Good Luck!
Dave
DrWatson 'FOLDER' NOT the 'SOUL' SUSPECT!
by Good-PC.Guy! - 1/17/09 8:22 PM In reply to: What Dr. Watson is.... by twominksTHANKS FOR THE GOOD INFO!
HOWEVER, FROM ALL THAT I'VE SEEN IN THERE, I STILL SUSPECT THAT SOME KIND OF SpyWare-DATA MAY BE KEPT/HIDDEN WITHIN THERE. AS SOME OF THE DATA WITHIN THE SUSPECT-FILE, COMES & GOES WITHOUT THE CONFIRMED PERMISSION OR KNOWLEDGE OF THE PC-OWNER!
I FOR ONE, INTEND TO GO BACK TO KEEPING MY EYE ON IT! AND TAKE NOTE OF IT'S CHANGES IN SIZE (USE OF SPACE) ON MY PCs.
AT THE VERY LEAST, IT DOES INDEED WASTE FREE-SPACE!
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